The present invention relates, in general, to microelectromechanical accelerometers and more particularly to accelerometers fabricated from single crystal silicon beams having high aspect ratios for high sensitivity, and to a method for fabricating such devices.
Various techniques and processes have been devised for fabricating micromachined structures such as accelerometers, and these prior techniques have been discussed in the literature. However, most such processes require multiple masking steps, wafer-to-wafer bonding, or the use of wet chemistry. It has been found, however, that the use of such multiple masks and bonding techniques can introduce alignment errors which reduce yield and increase. device cost, making such processes unsuitable for sub-micron structures.
In addition, prior accelerometers have presented problems in that they have required a relatively large amount of power for operation, and this is not suitable for microelectromechanical devices. For example, accelerometers have been developed which utilize a solid block of material as the proof mass, with piezoelectric supports for the block connected in a bridge circuit. Such devices can require as much as 2 milliamps of current for operation.